A companion book of expanded content for the original TTRPG of nautical and Christian-religious horror, HELLWHALERS. Fish for new horrors in hell's oceans, discover new consequences for gambling with souls, play through new epilogues, and more.
You’ve lived a sinner’s life. Now you’ve died a sinner’s death… Cruel, cruel fate has cast you down to the wretched ocean at the bottom of all things, the stygian sea, where you make a deal with someone who calls themselves your captain. Hunt and kill the hellwhale, partake of its flesh and blood, and you’ll find your redemption.
HELLWHALERSis an original GM-led token swapping & d6 based TTRPG of nautical and religious horror. Players take the role of damned whalers hunting a monstrous whale across the oceans of hell for the promise of salvation; gambling, fishing, and facing the trials of hell along the way.
Book of Leviathan is a 40 page expansion zine for the original game thattakes us further into hell’s waters, with all new material expanded from the original game’s premise. New evocative art. New horrors of hell. New grisly crew options. New mythical endings.
If you’re new to HELLWHALERS, we’ve got the original sold out game coming back to print, available here. Or check out a PDF copy here.
HELLWHALERS takes its DNA from old school systems like Carin & Errant and Narrative modern story engines like Belonging Outside Belonging & Blades in the Dark. Old school resource tracking, procedural tables, and peril; modern roleplaying incentives, streamlining, and sensibilities. It is suitable for 2-5 players and a GM, and uses both tokens and six-sided dice to play.
HELLWHALERS: Book of Leviathan plummets us back into the pitch black waters of the Stygian Sea, where we'll once again seek redemption for our crew. One more roll of the dice. One more whale on the horizon. One more shot at saving our immortal souls.
Book of Leviathan brings us:
Two horrific epilogues
Two sin-laden playbooks
Two fractured lore stories
Two desperate castaways seeking passage
Four haunting locales across the Stygian Sea
Six ghastly sea creatures to dredge from the deep
An entirely new gambling results table for the devil's board
A myriad of public domain illustrations and bespoke lino-cut and digital stamps
Play as one of the original six playbooks of HELLWHALERS from the core book, or take the reigns of one of the two new advanced playbooks - The Abomination, cursed with a form that betrays their sins of desire and deviancy, or The Returned, a ‘came back wrong’ playbook for those who have fallen to hell’s trials.
Every pledge at the $10 or higher levels also comes with an assortment of digital extras, including:
A PDF of alternate tactical wargame skirmish rules for the final whale encounter.
Papercraft whale and boat instructions for use with tactical rules.
A PDF of a diegetic essay from a cursed whaler.
And a completed sea shanty MP3.
This is a collective return from Brewist Tabletop Games, original co-writer Bogus Cheesecake, and PlusOneExp who first brought HELLWHALERS to print. This expansion is a radical voyage back into hell and a monstrous splash you won't wanna miss.
Pledge now and reserve yourself a fresh copy of HELLWHALERS: Book of Leviathan!
A PDF copy of Book of Leviathan, plus digital bonus content and any unlocked stretch goals.
An A5 zine plus PDF copy of the Book of Leviathan, plus digital bonus content and any unlocked stretch goals.
The original A4 HELLWHALERS softcover book and A5 Book of Leviathan zine, in print and PDF form! Adds one community copy to the pool on itch.io, made available after release for anyone who can't afford the game. Plus digital bonus content and any unlocked stretch goals.
The definitive edition of HELLWHALERS! Get the A4 HELLWHALERS softcover book, the A5 Book of Leviathan zine, PDF copies of each, 50 seaglass tokens and a premium cloth sic bo board. Adds 3 community copies to the pool on itch.io. Plus digital bonus content and any unlocked stretch goals.
The Ultimate Infernal Reward! Backers will receive 2 Copies of HELLWHALERS & the Book of Leviathan expansion nestled in a deluxe treasure chest & flag customized for you & your crew and inspired by a piece of art from the game. Also comes with the premium cloth sic bo board, 50 seaglass tokens, and a handful of cursed custom coins finished off with a handmade dice tray and token container crafted by the damned (or Kaye if the damned are too busy). Top it all off with a real metal harpoon head! Adds 66 Community Copies to the pool.
In addition to the levels above, you can add on any of the items below to customize your pledge:
Community Copy
Community copies of the expansion PDF made available for free after the game’s release! A limited amount will be available based on how many are purchased for people who can’t otherwise afford it.
3" Square Fabric Patch
Choose from one of three smaller fabric patches showing off stunning art from HELLWHALERS and Book of Leviathan!
HELLWHALERS Digital Copy
The original nautical and Christian-religious horror TTRPG, if you or someone else wants another copy to add to your order! Included in The Complete HELLWHALERS Pledge and up.
3" Square Patch Bundle
Get one of each 3" square patch with art from HELLWHALERS as a set with this add-on!
Cloth Sic Bo Board
Pick up a premium cloth sic bo board to use as part of your HELLWHALERS games! Or other dice rolling needs. Included as part of the HELLWHALERS Deluxe and THE DEVIL'S BARGAIN tiers.
12x16" Cloth Patch
Grab a big cloth patch featuring the cover of HELLWHALERS! Use it as a back patch for a vest! Or your jacket! Or your wall! The world is your oyster.
HELLWHALERS BOOK
Pick up a copy of the original HELLWHALERS if you don't already have it, or another copy for a friend! Included in The Complete HELLWHALERS pledges and up.
Want to cover HELLWHALERS and the Book of Leviathan expansion, or to run an actual play yourself? Email us at [email protected] for a press kit and more info!
Flash Funding - Linocut Stamp for Papercraft Whale
If we manage to fund Book of Leviathan within 48 hours, all backers will immediately unlock an additional linocut stamp design from artist Matt Willetto to use when printing out your papercraft whales.
$2,500 - Ambergrant
After reaching this stretch goal, the team will be able to give out a $222 grant for production of a HELLWHALERS community project! We'll have more info about this goal if/when we reach it soon! If you're looking for inspiration, check out the Sinners and Seamonsters TTRPG Jam running right now!
$4,000 - Linocut Stamp for Papercraft Boat
After reaching this stretch goal, all backers will also be receiving another new linocut stamp design from Matt Willetto to use for the tactical wargame rules - this one being for the papercraft boat.
$5,500 - More Ambergrant
Even more community project funding, this stretch goal sets up a $444 dollar production grant!
$6,660 - Even More Ambergrant
You want MORE HELLWHALERS? What if we gave $666 out to fund even more community projects?
$12,121.20 - Creator Kit & SRD
If we can get to double the devil number, we'll release a system reference document covering HELLWHALERS and Book of Leviathan for your own games, as well as a creator kit that includes custom assets to give you a head start on making something in the bowels of HELLWHALERS for yourself!
$18,181.80 - Fully Produced Actual Play by Many Sided Media
Finally, at our last stretch goal, reaching this allows us to fund a fully-produced actual play production with the incredibly skilled folks over at Many Sided Media, the production company behind My First Dungeon, Talk at the Table and many more TTRPG podcasts you're probably already listening to.
300 Backers - AND THEY WERE SHIPMATES Sticker
If we can get 300 total backers at any level supporting Book of Leviathan, everyone physical backer will also receive a special AND THEY WERE SHIPMATES sticker along with everything else in your pledge!
Every $4000 - Plus One Pledge to Pay Equity
For each campaign Plus One Exp runs, we set a rate that allows us to pay the creators better if the campaign does well. For Book of Leviathan, every time we hit or loop $4000 the creative team gets a incremental pay increase.
We believe that all of us should succeed together even if it's in incremental amounts.
Book of Leviathan is very nearly print-ready – the text is finished, and 80-90% of layout complete. The bonus digital material is 90+% written, and we have trusted printing partners within the US ready in order to avoid tariff related issues.
The original HELLWHALERS is fully complete, and the second run is ready for print. A larger print run allows us to scale our operations for efficiency and potentially gets the book into Friendly Local Game Stores as well.
As always, there are risks with a large project, but we have an experienced team, an outstanding community of resourceful folks, and a good plan. Shipping and fulfillment is the largest visible variable in the equation, but through our trusted friends at PlusOneExp, we’re confident in the processes we’ve got in place to deliver books to you, hell or high water.
Plus One is fully committed to the swift shipping of Book of Leviathan & the second printing of HELLWHALERS. With the game at an almost fully complete level we will be sending the books to print as soon as we hit our funding goal. This will allow us to fulfill all pledge levels except THE DEVIL'S BARGAIN can ship in July & August and allow for pick up at GenCon, Flame Con, or in the city of Philadelphia if you like.
Cost for shipping in USD for will be:
United States $8-10 North America $17-22 Everywhere else $17-35
Philly locals, GenCon, or FlameCon in-person pick up FREE!
Anyone pledging at the THE DEVIL'S BARGAIN level will get their pledge in September. This allows us time to get the custom elements made for each one. Shipping will be quoted once we have final weight for this set.
